


The Shadows Call

by RiverRunningFree



Series: Keith's Pain Deserves Comfort [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Keith (Voltron), Hunk & Keith (Voltron) Friendship, Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Hunk & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, Hunk (Voltron) Has Anxiety, Hunk (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Hunk (Voltron) is so Pure, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Major Character Injury, Orphan Keith (Voltron), POV Keith (Voltron), Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Protective Hunk (Voltron), Protective Keith (Voltron), Protective Lance (Voltron), Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:14:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28206678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiverRunningFree/pseuds/RiverRunningFree
Summary: Keith had always believed that he must separate himself from the other paladins. That he will always be a loner, isolated and removed from the group.But when an intense mission tests Keith's lone wolf ideals, Lance and Hunk decide it's time to step in.
Relationships: Allura & Coran & Hunk & Keith & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt & Shiro, Hunk & Keith (Voltron), Hunk & Lance (Voltron), Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith & Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: Keith's Pain Deserves Comfort [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2066283
Comments: 3
Kudos: 162





	The Shadows Call

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! Thanks for reading!  
> TW: for heavy angst and violence
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

_The shadows call, my name they beckon._

_Shivered cracks, in isolation’s embrace._

_Warmth long abandoned, there I stand alone._

_Forever, forever. I stand alone._

_Though joy does allude me._

_And contentment mocks my mind._

_Still, I stay in these shadows, and stand all the night._

_Forever, forever. I stand all the night._

Keith shifts his feet in a last, desperate attempt to summon feeling back into his muscles, the long hours of the alert, upright attention practically begged for legs to spasm and cramp tight.

Off to his right, Hunk seems to be facing a similar dilemma. Eyes, glazing over and distant, fight valiantly against strained concentration and exhaustion. The Yellow Paladin’s fingers tap out morse code against his thigh, a simple repeated loop of “Stay calm. Stay focused.”

The others seem not much better, swaying and twitching, then tapping out anxiety. They cluster together near the stolen Galra fighter’s exit hatch, silent and tense. And yet their muscles seem to soothe from the balm of close proximity with their fellow paladins. Shoulder bumps and silent arm squeezes physically communicating _support, camaraderie, unity, love._ A gentle reassurance before their mission engages.

Keith’s left calf twitches from the other side of the hatch.

His position solitary and removed from the others.

“Alright team, we’re about five minutes out from the drop site. Let’s go over the plan one more time.”

Breathing slowly through his nose, Lance grips is Bayard tighter, “We’ll drop out a half-mile outside the Galra base. Me, Keith, and Hunk head to the eastern tunnel entrance while Shiro and Pidge slip in through the hanger bay on the north side.” Knuckles pop against tightened strain, “A purely stealth operation. Infiltrate the base, one group uploading the computer virus, the other retrieving the flight pattern logs.”

“In and out, fifteen minutes. Rendezvous at the drop site.” Hunk’s timber adding the final wrap-up.

Shiro nods in a sharp affirmative. “Remember, these Galra soldiers are one of the Empire’s elite tactical groups. Their training is more advanced, their armor more durable. We _do not_ engage. Understood?”

“Understood.” A chorus of tight-throated children.

Lance glances over at Keith, alone and removed in his hidden corner. Shuffling to the red paladin’s side, the other boy nudges Keith gently against his ribs. A subtle command of attention. A _friendly_ request.

“Hey, man. You good?”

The arch of Keith’s right foot shudders against the hard boot. “Yes.” The other boy feels too close. Too personal. Intruding and trampling past the line of isolation that kept a constant four-foot perimeter of his being.

“Okay. . . Just checking on you.”

Keith shifts out of Lance’s reach as the ship begins its descent.

_The shadows call, my name they beckon._

_A prison made, by my own hand._

_Every nail, every stone, it lays the wall._

_Forever, forever. I stand alone._

_I build this wall, my faults construct._

_Higher, still higher, it grows up tall._

_Within these walls, I stand so low._

_Forever, forever. I stand too low._

His left shoulder pad scrapes out a raucous echo as it makes brief contact with the tunnel’s inner shell. Controlled breathing against the crackle of static-muted comms, he crawls onward quietly, holding up the rear of their minute procession. Covering the back.

A voice buzzes against his ear, Shiro’s whisper, “We’re in the hangar. Making our way to the engineering room now. How are you guys holding up?”

Hunk’s knee catches slightly on a raised nail, “Good.” He grunts out. “We are almost to the exit. Should be popping up just outside the navigation chamber.” Hunk reaches out, unlocking the grating that marks their ticket into the halls. Curved slices of metal twist to Hunk’s command, snapping open with a finality in its twang.

There have been a hundred missions just like this, yet still Keith has never managed to learn how to tame the beast of his anxiety. So many factors to go wrong. So many people to get hurt in the crossfires. A lucky blaster fire, a silent stab through the neck.

So many ways to end in blood.

A gentle hand squeezes Keith’s shoulder, causing him to look up into Lance’s gaze.

“I got your back.”

Keith nods silently.

_The shadows call, my name they beckon._

_I hear the screams, of failures present._

_Muffled recordings, forever to play._

_In haunted failures, I stand now._

_A miss-step. A mistake._

_A drunken dance I obliterate._

_Shadows keep the screams at bay._

_Muffled from heartache, I stand now._

They had been spotted.

A rouge sentry that hadn’t followed the guard round’s typical route. Now, here they crouched, pinned-down behind a crate of boxes by ten elite sentries. The sentries dutifully marched forward, blaster fire nicking the tops of their helmets. They are cornered, trapped. Like rats that reached the wrong end of the maze.

Keith glances around, heart beating fast against his chest. Out. Out. They need to get out.

He looks up and almost jumps for joy.

There’s a ventilation shaft directly above them and, praise the gods, there is another opening just behind the sentries. That could work.

“Cover me.”

“What- Keith! What are you doing?! Get down!” Lance’s voice is cracking in fear as Keith stands, barely dodging a stray blast. Hunk’s eyes are wide as he tries to pull him back down undercover, but Keith pulls away.

“I’ll get behind them using the shaft. When I drop down and distract them, make a break for the navigation room and get those flight plans. I’ll keep them busy.”

“Keith! Wait just a-“

He jumps up and yanks down the shaft cover, another blast burning dangerously close to his shoulder. Ignoring Lance’s screams, he scrambles up the tight shaft and disappears out of sight. Hunk curses and lets out a stream of heavy fire at the sentries as Lance gazes in a frenzy up at the pitch-black shaft.

“KEITH! DON’T GO ON YOUR OWN DAMNIT!”

“Lance, you have to focus, man. He’s already gone. Just focus on keeping these guys distracted, it’s the only way we can help him right now.” Knuckles white against his trigger, Hunk shoots Lance a forced look of confidence. “He’ll be fine.”

“Self-sacrificing idiot.” Is the choked response, as Lance returns fire.

Only a minute or two later, Keith is dropping down behind the line of sentries, bayard flashing red and glinted in the purple lighting. Ice seizes around Lance's chest as he watches in sick fascination the precise way in which every sentry turns about and fires on Keith.

“Hunk, get to the navigation chamber. I’m covering Keith.”

A pause.

“Keep him safe.”

Lance raises his sniper rifle to his line of sight and prays.

_The shadows call, my name they demand._

_For those I love, I must stay hidden._

_I would sacrifice it all, every ray of light._

_To keep them safe, to keep them bright._

Three sentries down, seven to go. Two broken ribs, four lacerations.

Keith grits his teeth as a metal fist collides with the side of his head, a blade soon following to slice against his shoulder blades. They’re pummeling on him from all sides, faster and more skilled than any sentry they had faced before. Another punch to the face sends him crumbling to the floor.

The sound of a rifle flares above his head and he is vaguely aware of Lance picking off a couple of his opponents. But. . . but Lance should be with Hunk. . .

A kick to broken ribs sprawls him into the wall, blood spilling between his teeth.

Lance. Lance shouldn’t be stay behind for him. Lance should be beside his friend. Beside Hunk. Lance cares so much more for Hunk than for him. Why did he stay behind? It doesn’t make sense.

Keith is meant to be _alone_.

. . . So why isn’t he?

A shot tears through his abdomen at point-blank range and Keith screams from deep within his chest. There is scarlet painting his white armor, and squelching sounds from places where his organs should be carefully tucked out of sight.

It burns. It burns. It _burns._

It hurts so bad that tears are streaking down his face to dilute the sprays of blood that mar his cheeks. More slices, more fists, more firing from Lance’s sniper. He hears bodies drop on the ground beside him, but everything else is muffled and blurred together.

Keith’s shaking now. He’s hot and cold in all the wrong places and he’s never felt so helpless in the middle of a battle. So afraid. Afraid for Lance.

He can’t defend Lance like this. Bayard loose in his tremored grip.

That thought alone _terrifies_ him.

Another body drops with a thud, then pounding footsteps rush from across the room, barely audible over the static in his head. His thoughts are like jigsaw puzzles and his hearing is even worse, disjointed and feverish. He hopes Lance is okay.

“Keith! -eith!” Something grips his arms and rolls him onto his back. “Fuck. Fuckfuckfuckfuck-“ Hands press against his abdomen and he thinks he screams but he can’t really hear it above the burning, everything burns so bad.

“Why did you run off like that?! You self-sacrificing-“ Keith is shivering violently against the gentle hands. “You can’t do this to me again! Do you understand me!? Never again!” Keith coughs up a glob of clotted blood as wiry arms lift him up against a firm chest. Lance. Lance is carrying him.

“You are m-more. . . important. Always more. . .”

The words feel heavy on his tongue and he thinks that Lance is responding, but the world is dimming, and it's so very hard to grasp onto something solid. Something real.

“-KEITH!”

_The shadows call, my name they beckon._

_Shivered cracks, in isolation’s embrace._

_Warmth long abandoned, there I stand alone._

_Forever, forever. I stand alone._

_Though joy does allude me._

_And contentment mocks my mind._

_Still, I stay in these shadows, and stand all the night._

_Forever, forever. I stand all the night._

“-eith!”

“Stay with m-. . . don’t leave-“

“-pressure on his-“

“Oh my god.”

“-needs a pod! NOW!”

-

-

-

The sensation of falling into Lance’s waiting arms is a feeling that will entrance all of Keith’s future dreams.

Long fingers cart through his knotted hair, and stifled sobs drift to his ears. Keith feels awareness slowly drip into his body, bit by bit, a cylinder filling to the tip. His eyes open slowly, blinking into the bright castle lights. Bright and demanding, no shadows in sight.

Lance trembles against his skin.

“Why did you do that Keith? We could have figured something else out. Anything else.”

“I-“ Keith’s tongue felt dry and his words were muffled by Lance’s shoulder. “It doesn’t matter what happens to me. You and Hunk needed to get out alive. You guys are important.”

Lance chokes on a sob as another pair of broad arms suddenly pulls Lance and Keith into a desperate hug. “Listen to me right now.” Hunk is sobbing now too. “You are just as important as any of the rest of us. Understand? You matter. You matter so much, you don’t even know.”

Keith starts to shake his head, but Lance cuts in with fierce tears in his eyes.

“You’re part of our group Keith. You’re part of our _family_. Okay?” Lance’s voice cracks and he buries his nose into Keith’s neck. “Family looks out for each other and cares about each other. We care about _you.”_ Lance pulls back slightly to look Keith in the eyes.

“I know you like to think that you have to be a loner. That you don’t belong with us. But that’s not true, because we _love_ you. We love you so much, Keith. You never have to be alone with us. We will always be there for you, just like you’re always there for us. Okay? You matter. You are loved. And you. . . Keith, _you are not alone.”_

Tears start to fall and sobs of joy tumble from his lips.

. . . he’s not alone.

_The shadows call, my name they beckon._

_But words of love, silence them now._

_The shadows leave, and I stand in the light._

_Forever, forever. I stand in your light._

**Author's Note:**

> Ayyyyyyeeee! That's it!
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed it (I apologize for the cadence of the poetry being off, but, alas, I'm not an expert.)  
> Please let me know what you thought in the comments below! I love hearing from you all and it really makes my day :)
> 
> THANKS FOR READING!


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